Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia wants the Biden administration to grant temporary legal status to its citizens now living in the United States, noting its own efforts to address regional migration by hosting 2 million Venezuelans who fled their homes.

Gustavo Petro, who was elected Colombia’s first leftist president in June, is committed to the “incredibly generous policies” of his predecessor, which includes temporary status for 1.8 million people who fled neighboring Venezuela, said Luis Alberto Murillo Urrutia, Colombia’s ambassador to the U.S.

BOGOTÁ, Nov 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 18 people were killed in Colombia in clashes between holdouts from the former rebel army FARC and another armed group linked to drug trafficking, the government said.

The government ombudsman’s office said the fighting occurred on Saturday in southwest Colombia, near the border with Ecuador.

The clashes involved rebels who have rejected a 2016 peace agreement that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed with the government and a criminal band that calls itself Comandos de la Frontera, or Border Commandos.

BOGOTA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Colombia has received a total of 93,502,966 COVID-19 vaccine doses, of which 89,310,214 have been applied, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday.

In the past week, 100,510 doses were applied, of which 17,217 were second doses and 3,611 were single-dose vaccines, said the ministry.

As part of the National Vaccination Plan, 36,191,103 people have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 30,132,460 received a second dose, while 6,651,795 have received a single-dose vaccine.

NECOCLI, Colombia (AP) — Venezuelan Gilbert Fernández still plans to cross the dangerous Darien jungle into Panama and head toward the United States over land, despite a U.S. announcement that it will grant conditional humanitarian permits only to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants arriving by air.

“The news hit us like a bucket of cold water,” Fernández said Thursday, a day after the announcement, which also stated that Venezuelans arriving by land at the Mexico-U.S. border would be returned to Mexico.

BOGOTA, Oct 9 (NNN-TELESUR) — The Colombian government declared maximum alert in the Caribbean island of San Andres before the passage of storm Julia, which will strengthen in the coming hours to become a hurricane.

“It is highly probable that storm Julia will become a hurricane and reach San Andres between 19H00 and 21H00 hours”, said President Gustavo Petro, in a message on his Twitter account.

BOGOTA, Sept 23 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro has apologized to Haiti for the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse committed by 18 mercenaries from his country who are awaiting trial on the Caribbean island.

“Today I asked forgiveness to Haiti for the assassination of its president committed by Colombian mercenaries,” wrote Petro on Twitter as the South American country’s first ever leftwing administration takes a new stance regarding the issue.

Sept 20 (Reuters) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro called on Latin American countries to join forces to end the war on drugs during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, has long derided the global war on drugs as a failure, even using his inauguration speech in August to call for a new international strategy to fight drug trafficking. 

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela on Friday announced that the years-long closure of their countries’ shared border to cargo transport will end Sept. 26. Air service between their capitals will also resume.

The announcement comes a month after Gustavo Petro was sworn in as Colombia’s first leftist president, beginning a thaw in relations between his country and the government of Nicolás Maduro. The presidents tweeted the announcement.

“We confirm the government’s commitment to restore brotherly relations,” Petro said.

BOGOTA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Seven police officers were killed in an explosives attack in western Colombia on Friday, the government said, the deadliest attack on security forces since President Gustavo Petro took office promising to end the country's nearly 60-year conflict.

Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla, has pledged to seek "total peace" by restarting talks with leftist ELN rebels, applying a 2016 peace accord to former FARC guerrilla fighters who reject it, and negotiating the surrender of crime gangs in exchange for reduced sentences. 

29 August 2022; AA: Colombia will formerly reestablish diplomatic relations with Venezuela as of Monday after years of tensions.

Colombian Ambassador Armando Benedetti, appointed by new President Gustavo Petro, arrived in Venezuela’s capital Caracas on Sunday to present his credentials to President Nicolas Maduro.

The new ambassador will have as a priority the reestablishment of diplomatic and commercial ties between the two countries after three years of deteriorating relations.